My husband and I are planning a 7-day cruise to Alaska next year, and we'd like to combine that with seeing some of the national parks in the northwest, as well as Banff. Are there any tour companies that combine these itineraries? Would it be better to rent a car for the parks? If so, which parks would you recommend? Of course we want to see Yellowstone and Grand Tetons.

How much time are you allotting to your National Parks tour?

Try Trafalgar or Globus. Both of them are fairly well established and have a wide variety of tours. I did South America with Globus in Dec 06 and they did a very good job.

Also a good website for tour companies and their itineraries is www.tourvacationstogo.com. Actually I thought about doing something very similar to what you're talking about, but then I decided that it would be way too expensive for me to do Canada, Alaska cruise, and Alaska land so I'm going to stick with the Alaska cruise and Alaska land.

Get a rental car and go on your own. I would not be paying the premium money that tours charge for some simple touring.

Thanks, that's good advice. Cruise to Alaska, disembark at Vancouver, and rent a car.

On the other hand, the tours know where to go, the places that are noteworthy, some of them that you would never find on your own. Just MHO.

Another strategy is to look at those tour companies which "know where to go" and read their brochures...then go (to those same places) on your own.

Well I guess it depends on how much money you want to spend. Group tours can be expensive, but everything is taken care of. You don't have do anything or worry about anything, but show up on time. I liked it because I travel alone a lot and its convenient for me to have everything taken care of. The main disadvantage is that you are on a schedule and sometimes you may want to stay longer at a place, but you can't. So if you're adventurous and don't mind driving and feel confident definitely rent the car!

Yellowstone and the Tetons are quite a distance from Seattle/Vancouver area. Are you planning to drive to these locations after the cruise?

susie -

yes, with stops along the way. couldn't we make it with one overnight stop??